Blog Archive

Xubuntu 13.04 has been released yesterday, along with the other Ubuntu flavors. Xubuntu uses Xfce as the default desktop environment and is a great alternative for those who prefer a traditional desktop layout with a panel on top, panel applets and so on.

According to the Xubuntu developers, Xubuntu 13.04 is mostly a maintenance release so there aren't many new features but there are some new default applications and some other interesting changes.

Xubuntu 13.04 video

Xubuntu LiveCD no longer available, ISO now larger than 700MB

Starting with 13.04, the Xubuntu images are larger than 700MB so they no longer fit on traditional CDs. The decision has been voted 8-0 by the Xubuntu team members and thanks to the extra space, some applications that were removed from the default installation in Xubuntu 12.10 are now back by default (see below).

One of the reasons for this change is the "amount of developer time currently spent keeping the ISO small enough to fit on a CD".

Default applications

Thanks to the larger ISO used by Xubuntu 13.04, GIMP and Gnumeric, which were removed from the ISO for Xubuntu 12.10, are back by default:

Also, some of the default applications have received important changes:

Catfish (search tool) has been rewritten with emphasis on speed, the interface has been revamped with styled sidebar and symbolic icons, the application now supports performing operations on multiple files at once and more. Here's the latest Catfish available in Xubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail:

Parole Media Player has received quite a few improvements too, since Xubuntu 12.10. The video player now features CD and DVD playlist support, DVD navigation support, a new "Recent Items" menu item has been added along with album artwork and details to notifications, a missing codec feature like in Totem should make codecs installation a lot easier, an embedded mode allows you to use Parole as a browser plugin, custom subtitle management and many bug fixes, including for fullscreen controls, screensaver inhibition, freezing subtitles and more:

Another application that has received some very interesting changes is Xfce4 Terminal, which now has an option to use it as a drop-down console, like the popular Guake or Yakuake:

Other Xfce4 Terminal changes include:

added search dialog;

terminal tab color changes when activity occurs in a tab since last viewed;

support for color presets and some presets were added by default, including "Solarized Dark" (which by the way, is my favourite terminal / text editor color scheme).